Problem with WEP in the WLAN configuration (2. version)

Bug Reports
#21

It’s actually simpler than that: WEP is obsolete,and it isn’t fair to call software that doesn’t support it buggy (apart from the fact that maybe SFOS shouldn’t support it at all anymore).

Note the “was”, and further:

…WEP had been superseded by Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA). In 2004, with the ratification of the full 802.11i standard (i.e. WPA2), the IEEE declared that both WEP-40 and WEP-104 have been deprecated.

Furthermore, I see that wpa_supplicant doesnot support WEP at all (anymore), and that is regardless of SFOS. That table shws that iw however still supports WEP, and it’s installed on SFOS, so you could at least test if it works manually, and if it does, hack something together.

The main question remains though: Why do you (think you) need WEP? Seems like an x-y-problem to me.

1 Like
#22

To @softfriese’s credit that was one of the listed outcomes:

Would have been easier to understand with “should”, but alas.

Don’t trust such listings for that, always go to the project in question. It is still supported, but not enabled by default.

Fully agree.

#23

So if it could still be supported by wpa suppliciant building a wep capable package might solve the issue?

#24

My answer to all nice replies and advice:
;-))

  1. I know that WEP is obsolete.
    I use it or have to use it partly because there are quite a lot of devices in the corresponding network that would all have to be migrated.
    Some devices are so old that they can really only do WEP.
    (I call that sustainable for the climate).

This will change one day, ok, but not at this moment.

  1. So I would be happy if I could do without an additional subnet.
    It’s not so bad though, I can live with this bridge.

  2. I accept that it is not an assumed bug, but just a setting when compiling the WPA module ( so i understood).
    However, if I get WEP offered on the graphical interface, then it should also work with WEP-based networks on the lower level.
    All my other devices (even newer ones) are able to do this.
    Otherwise, completely out with the WEP, then everyone knows.

  3. I would be happy if the WEP would be adapted accordingly in an update. Let’s see if it happens.
    It’s LINUX, so you can do that!

3 Likes
#25

I wrote that iw still supports WEP, and is installed on SFOS (atleast on my device, and I never explicitely installed it).

Try that.

#26

Yes, iw is installed.
When I have time, I’ll try it and see if I can get WEP to work.
I will post the result here.

#27

I have the exact same problem right now !

I am visiting relatives and no way to connect to their wifi with my Jolla C, which always worked at their place (I have coming to their place regularly for several years, it always worked, last time was Christmas 2022)

Zero pb on my wife’s phone and tablet, no changes on their side either, so I investigate the only change (a sailfish update on my part) and here I am…

I’m ok for wep to be hidden in Jolla or with a big disclaimer regarding insecurity but losing this feature is a regression for my part (currently using a weird hotspot to post this message)

2 Likes
#28

Once again, it is not fair to call it a regression when the protocol is obsolete.

Some hints were given in this thread:

  • recompile wpa_supplicant with WEP enabled
  • use iw instead

Have you investigated at all?

#29

IMHO it works the other way, it is not fair to dismiss this as “not a regression”.

More recent devices continue to support this, the tools still exist to do the task, and some users are affected by the loss of this functionality in legitimate cases (a user cannot reconfigure all the wifi access point of the locations where he/she is) which worked well before the update using the UI but now required to use iw in console.

With the same kind of argument you could remove GIF support from Sailfish, as it is an obsolete technology long since replaced by better things, still IMHO doing this would be a regression for the user who need it.

#30

Since it is not reflected in the GUI it is fairly safe to say it is not an intentional change, but rather a change of defaults in the upstream. I.e. it is fair to call it a bug - but it will also be fair to mark it WONTFIX.

Saying there are legitimate use cases is quite the stretch. WPA has been out for 20 years; WEP has been broken for probably a majority of that. Any AP that was “legitimately” configured with WEP has been written off many times over, and most of them probably failed by now. Leaving a great proportion of plain bad configs. There may be some 802.11g devices out there not supporting WPA, but generally speaking you’ll be dealing with 802.11b to get to the same era!

Since GIF is not a glaring security vulnerability, the comparison is completely irrelevant.

2 Likes
#31

Admittedly the comparison with GIF was a bit stretched.

But allowing WEP in some corner cases (ie “when this is the only thing the access point proposes”) is not a glaring security vulnerability either. We’re not talking about forcing WEP by default everywhere, nor about replacing WPA by WEP.

Please consider this : on such a small community as this one, a group of people who use a Jolla device with Sailfish OS + make bug reports (so less than 1000 people in the word maybe ?), there are already two people who have already encountered this problem of a WEP only access point in real world… they’re not as rare as you might think.

1 Like